Kevin Durant carries Warriors past Jazz for 3-0 series lead.
Durant goes for 38, covers for starters in comeback
SALT LAKE CITY — At any given point during Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals Saturday night, at least a half-dozen Warriors players sat on the bench with “Strength in Numbers” emblazoned across their chests.
It was a subtle nod toward the ailing Steve Kerr, who coined that slogan long before he took an indefinite hiatus from the sideline to tend to his chronic pain. But Kerr is the first to admit that, to become the fastest head coach in major sports history to win 200 games, he often needed transcendent individual performances.
In powering Golden State to a 102-91 win over the Jazz on Saturday, Kevin Durant reinforced why he is a future Hall of Famer. It was his workhorse effort — postseason highs of 38 points and 13 rebounds — that ultimately made up for teammates’ shortcomings.
After the Warriors entered the fourth quarter nursing a two-point lead, Durant came up with 11 points, often at critical times, to help create distance. His three-pointer with 3:05 left was the proverbial dagger — not
just to Utah’s hopes of winning Game 3, but also effectively to their chances of rallying back for a series victory.
While Durant shot 15-for-26 from the field, the rest of the Warriors went 22-for-58. Curry needed 20 shots to record 23 points. Perhaps the Warriors’ most combustible scorer, Klay Thompson (six points on 1-for-9 shooting) finished with fewer points than Zaza Pachulia (seven).
“We were on KD’s back for most of the game,” said Curry, who poured in 18 of his points in the second half. “That’s why we trust in each other when people aren’t clicking.”
In the season before Kerr was hired in May 2014, Golden State’s lack of depth was a major issue. Over the past three seasons, with Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston leading the way, the bench has become a source of pride for fans. The “Strength in Numbers” catch phrase adorns T-shirts, billboards and posters.
Such depth was foundational to the Warriors’ first 6-0 start to a postseason. With Durant sidelined by a calf injury for Games 2 and 3 of the first round, role players such as Iguodala, JaVale McGee and Ian Clark made timely contributions. Golden State assisted on 79 percent of its field goals and did not trail the Jazz in Games 1 and 2.
It was a far cry from the slowfooted, isolation-prone group that slogged through much of Game 3 on Saturday. By the time Draymond Green was whistled for his third foul late in the second quarter, Utah had trimmed an 11-point deficit to four.
The Defensive Player of the Year front-runner stomped toward the bench before stopping to signal “2-0” with his right hand at a particularly vocal Jazz fan. Moments later, a capacity Vivint Smart Home Arena crowd roared as Green was assessed his first technical of the postseason for barking at the officials. Utah responded with a 10-5 run to close the half and lead 50-49.
Durant had 22 points in the first half. The next closest Warrior? Iguodala, who had six points on 2-for-2 shooting. Unlike numerous times earlier this season, when the Warriors delivered game-changing runs immediately after intermission, they saw their hole balloon to 62-53 midway through the third.
It was then that Curry began to settle into a rhythm. After missing 13 of his first 15 shots, the two-time reigning NBA MVP hit two jumpers in a 29second span — a running threepointer and a corner 20-footer — to cap a 14-4 run and put the Warriors up 67-66. Though the Jazz inched ahead for small leads three more times, Golden State was free to ride Curry and Durant to victory.
“Give our guys credit because they stayed poised,” said acting head coach Mike Brown, whose Warriors didn’t commit a turnover in the second half en route to committing only seven giveaways, tying a franchise playoff best. “They could have caved at any time, especially in the third when Utah went on a run, but they just stayed with it.”
With 55.9 seconds left, after Durant nailed a 23-footer near the top of the arc, he turned, shook his head and shrugged. The taunt, 23 seconds after he was assessed a flagrant-1 and technical for an altercation with Jazz center Rudy Gobert, was his way of sending a message to Jazz fans:
Even on a night his team doesn’t live up to its “Strength in Numbers” billing, Durant can ensure victory.
“I want to try to say this as humbly as I can,” Durant said. “But I’ve been doing this for so long, and every time I roll out of the bed and we have a game that day, I feel like I can go out there and score.”